I lent my KSX200 to dfkt. From memory I'd say bass is similar, mids are a bit clearer on these and treble is more polite but higher quality on the KSX200. Build quality: no comparison, Koss wins, but they cost more than twice as much.

Meelec biflanges FTW! It's about time I'm able to use these on something. First impression is that these really don't sound much like the EX600. The Monoprice is closer in that romantic sound-sig to the Sonys than this Isurus is.

I'm not getting any sibilance or harshness so far. I'm really enjoying the midrange. A bit forward, with great detail and clarity. Overall, great first impressions. But I need more time with them and they need some more time to cook.

I picked up the SHE3580 at walmart just a bit ago. I can confirm that they are clearanced for $5 currently. I got them home and opened them up to give a listen. Unfortunately this pair will be going back because the left ear was damaged. The way it was packaged it bent the cord in such as way as to know out half the sound to the left ear. So unfortunately I really can't pass judgement on them in terms of quality. In terms of price they're nice and cheap, but the packaging is also cheap and can end up damaging the cord. Also the cord is VERY memorizing and is very annoying to work with out of the package.

The walmart I purchased it from only had the 84 IE purple and only 1, so I'm going to exchange it at a different location tomorrow if I can find another pair.

I've sold or broken every IEM I've ever owned except for the Monoprice 8320s, so I'll only be comparing against those.

Detailing is decent, definitely good for $20. The sibilance, though -- these are very hissy things, these things hiss much worse than any Beyerdynamic headphone I've ever heard! In some parts of songs, the sibilance just absolutely takes over the entire song at parts. I sadly have no other tips to swap in besides the provided tips, since IEMs just have not been my thing, but there's something definitely being very emphasized with the treble in the 5-8khz region. My biggest complaint is that the highs just don't work for me on songs where the sibilance is super apparent, if I can find a different set of tips I'll try them later, but the sibilance is a borderline deal breaker for me. One thing I noticed was that, even though the Tts had way more treble from those areas, the upper treble past 10khz was only a touch louder than the Monoprices -- the Monoprices brought out the odd high frequency touches that color Holiday by Swimming with Dolphins almost as much as the Tts. Right now, I honestly feel like the Monoprices only have a little less roll off the upper treble compared to the Tts. I honestly like the treble presentation of the Monoprices more than the Tt due to the lack of sibilance and similar amounts of upper treble, but I think the Tts had better definition of the highs.

Bass slam is definitely better than the Monoprice 8320. I feel like there's a decent mid-bass hump, but I really like the bass presentation on the whole. They can hit sub-bass frequencies pretty well -- I ran them through sinegen and it could hit 20hz. Very nice bass for the price. Overall, the bass is quick enough, quick enough to decently render Zabava by EnichKin's bass line. It's a runaway victory for the Tts for the bass.

Mids overall feel fuller than the Monoprices and more detailed. I feel like the mids falls behind the treble and bass, though, on the Tts and is more recessed. I don't have any real ground breaking things to say about this.

Solid isolation, better than the Monoprice 8320s. Soundstage is pretty good, but nothing to write home about, though. Cable is far less microphonic and less prone to tangling. If it wasn't for the sibilance issue I have with them, I'd mark the down for beating the Monoprices on every field, but those absolutely spoil the treble for me in some songs. For most songs, the Tts get my vote, but for the particularly sibilant ones I'd have to reach for the Monoprices.

I can't run these things out of my computer yet, because I broke my Fiio E6 somehow and I'm waiting on my O2 amp to get built and shipped -- the mid-bass hump is insane if I run them off of the computer.. Once that is done, I'll have some information about equalizing these things. Edit: For clarification, I've been driving them out of my iPod for now.

Just for grins, I also compared them against my Superlux HD681s -- as far as I'm concerned, those things and the Monoprices are the two best bang for your buck audio purchases I've ever made. Simply put, the $36 headphones beat the $20 Tts in pretty much across the board. I use the song "Be Calm" at 1:30 as my main test of instrument separation because it has so much going on during that part, and the Tts needed a pretty significant volume advantage for me to recognize all the sounds as well. The sizzling highs on cymbals or triangles sounded better defined on the Superluxes and their sibilance was not as bad as the Tts, but both had pretty high power brightness. The mids were definitely more recessed on the Superluxes, but I felt they won in overall mids clarity BARELY, although that was a pretty close fight -- if I were to test it more, I'm sure that would swing either way. It should come as no surprise that I felt the large headphone driver in the Superlux beat the large IEM driver in the Tts in bass impact.

With stock tips, I'd have to say that the Tts are a nice value at $20, but they weren't the absolute king of value that I expected, but they still get a recommendation from me. When you consider that the other things in the $20 bracket are the really cheap MEElecs and headphones like the Sennheiser HD202, the Tts look really good. Between the Monoprices and the Tts, I think it's hard to suggest the MEElec series of IEMs in the budget-fi bracket.

Maybe my Meelec biflances just tame any potential sibilance. Not sure, not going to test it right now either. But sibilance hasn't been an issue for me with these. Take this track for instance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGGsheUXeFY

This track is sibilant as hell with pretty much everything I've ever heard. At about 45 seconds in with most headphones it sounds like "SSSSSSkyy SSSSScrapers", but it's not too pronounced on the Isurus for me.

I'm considering buying the Comply T500s to fit onto the Tts to tame the treble and be more comfortable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Selenium

Maybe my Meelec biflances just tame any potential sibilance. Not sure, not going to test it right now either. But sibilance hasn't been an issue for me with these. Take this track for instance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGGsheUXeFY

This track is sibilant as hell with pretty much everything I've ever heard. At about 45 seconds in with most headphones it sounds like "SSSSSSkyy SSSSScrapers", but it's not too pronounced on the Isurus for me.